The Clarinet BBoard

Nature or Nurture, Take 2

Author: ohsuzan  Date:   2004-11-29 12:36 OK, here's the situation: My dear husband, who sorta kinda learned to play the clarinet back in Jr. Hi, has taken it up again (47 years later), because he wants to be able to play in the bands and ensembles that I enjoy so much, and he wants us to be able to play duets. He has a truly GREAT music-consumer's ear. He adores grand opera, knows and recognizes singers, arias, roles, knows libretti backwards and forwards. Likewise, he is a walking compendium of symphonic music knowledge, and recognizes composers, periods, styles, etc., after a moment's hearing. He quickly learned his clarinet fingerings accurately, all the way from bottom to top, and he has no problem at all recognizing notes and note values on the staff. When playing, however, he seems not to be able to tell whether he is on pitch or miles away; nor can he "hear" what others are playing and match pitch or find his place in the score if (when) he gets off. Most distressing, however, is the fact that he just plain cannot seem to take or keep a beat. He can beat "1 - 2 - 3 - 4" (or whatever meter) adequately, and then will make his entrance as if he were playing something entirely different. He will look at at score where he has, say, three bars of rest followed by an entrance on beat one of the fourth bar, and invariably make his entrance on beat three or four of the third bar. He consistently shorts half notes and other long tones, fails to count rests, and drops beats willy nilly. No sense of heading for the downbeat, or how what he is playing fits in with what others are playing. I just don't understand how someone who is so sophisticated as a listener could be so truly hopeless as a player. He works and works and works at it, but never gets past the point where his success in playing seems more than random. He's a very, very bright person -- an M.D. (surgeon) with a systematic mind. He clearly understands the "math" of music. He just can't play it. I don't know how to teach him. I don't know if he can be taught. Can any of you offer experience or suggestions? Susan

Topics	Author	Date
Nature or Nurture, Take 2	ohsuzan	2004-11-29 12:36
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	John Stackpole	2004-11-29 13:48
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	John O'Janpa	2004-11-29 14:10
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	Don Berger	2004-11-29 14:38
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	allencole	2004-11-29 14:54
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	pewd	2004-11-29 15:04
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	sfalexi	2004-11-29 15:25
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	ginny	2004-11-29 16:07
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	ginny	2004-11-29 16:10
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	ohsuzan	2004-11-29 17:06
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	sdr	2004-11-29 21:10
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	3dogmom	2004-11-29 23:26
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	its the Lencho	2004-11-30 00:44
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	ohsuzan	2004-11-30 02:02
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	Bani	2004-11-30 04:05
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	pewd	2004-11-30 04:30
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	Bani	2004-11-30 04:32
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	allencole	2004-11-30 04:33
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	Steve Epstein	2004-11-30 05:02
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	jArius	2004-11-30 05:29
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	licorice_man	2004-12-02 01:53
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	Jimmy Zhong	2004-12-02 02:07
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	ohsuzan	2004-12-02 02:40
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	allencole	2004-12-02 17:17
Re: Nature or Nurture, Take 2  new	claclaws	2004-12-02 18:08

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